By Jake Byk
Cold air rushes through my thin jeans jacket as I approach the Green. A coffee from Jersey Boy Bagels scorches my lungs, making me burn from within as I shiver from without.
Then I see the line. It’s a quivering strand of 200 people that weaves through the park to a rectangle cordoned off by an orange temporary fence.
As I get closer I see the jackets, thousands of jackets, sprawled on the ground, organized into rows that I soon realize are for Children, Men and Women.
The 20th annual coat drive of the Market Street Mission takes place on a blustery Saturday in November. David Scott, the mission’s executive director, greets me with a smile and a firm handshake. He wears an eye patch from recent surgery.
Scott has been involved with these coat drives from the beginning. Homeless and low-income families are allowed to take multiple free jackets – no registration required.
“You don’t have to qualify,” says Scott. Registrations only would drive off people who are ashamed or embarrassed by their condition, he says.
Scott tells me there are two types of ministry his organization performs – Basic Needs and Life Change. Basic Needs consists of food, water and shelter, whereas the Life Change program offers emotional and mental support for those plagued by economic hardship. When asked how many coats the Mission gives away, he responds, “Well, we gave away over 5,000 last year …”
I quickly learn that keeping my camera on my shoulder is a bad move. It’s like waving a flashlight in everyone’s eyes.
One gentleman, however, is completely content talking to me. He even offers to do so. I sit on the edge of the fountain at the south entrance to the park, desolately scoping for people to talk to, when he beckons me over, telling me I “could take his picture” if I wanted to.
From there he delves into his life story, so fast it is hard to keep up with him. Since we are at the entrance to the jacket area, I tell him to meet me after he’s gotten his coat.
He returns as I met him, in short shorts and a weathered black North Face sweater. Andy Beck, who does not give his age, says he received a master’s degree in information technology. He also says he is a paralegal who studied at Farleigh Dickinson. He drives, and lives, in a white Mazda 626. He currently camps in Somerville and comes to Morristown for its Soup Kitchen. Although he doesn’t say it, he seems rather fond of Morristown, and the food it provides. He drives a school bus during the day.
For about an hour, I sit on the edge of that fountain, politely asking people for interviews, and almost everyone politely tells me no. I stand up and think about interviewing the volunteers when I witness an inspiring moment.
Several young kids, between ages 3 and 9, are whipping around the inside of the dry fountain, playing tag. After taking some candid photographs, I locate the children’s mother – a sweet woman in her early 40s.
“She’s a ray of sunshine” the mom says, referring to her 4-and-a-half-year old daughter, Renee Phillips.
Renee is a talkative young lady. Most of what she tells me I cannot understand, but it’s adorable. She’s in Pre-K and resides in East Orange.
After the encounter with the children and their guardians, it goes really slowly. People glare at me, like I am a pimple on someone’s face and they are too disgusted to point it out.
One gentleman stops me in my tracks by saying, very calmly, “Turn around young man. I have nothing to say to you.”
As I am ready to leave, a red-haired man with cool blue eyes who is perhaps in his early 50s starts talking to me. It is odd, because he is talking to someone else and then randomly addresses me. He has a deep face and a contemplative attitude.
Charles Larussa lives with his parents in Succasunna. At one point, he says, he worked in Morris County. He appears to be popular, talking to people around him including a young woman. Rachel Greenburg tells me she’s living on the streets of Madison. She is 29 years old.
Jake Byk is a senior at Morristown High School and a frequent contributor to MorristownGreen.com.
